SIASCONSET, MASSACHUSETTS | Enclosed around a loop of Sankaty Head Golf Club’s 11th, 12th and 13th holes, there is a small village of nine huts, each constructed in the traditional worn gray shingle style found consistently throughout the island of Nantucket.
This hamlet, abutting one of the most exclusive courses on the eastern seaboard, harkens back to images of an old summer camp before the days of smartphones, or perhaps an army barracks. Wooden clothes lines run parallel to the structures. One house is labeled “Senior Staff” and another the “Jack Welch Director’s House,” named in honor of the late CEO of General Electric who played a fundamental role in supporting this little town. In the back, there is a basketball court and an artificial putting green, the latter tucked up against the side of a diminutive library.
A gaff-rigged flagpole sits in the center of the complex with a neat brick pathway running to each building entrance. At the base of the pole sits a plaque dedicated to Norman Claxton, a former U.S. Navy officer who spent 38 years as a head director and advisor of Camp Sankaty, a program he transformed from primitive roots.
Welcome to the only remaining caddie camp in the United States.
Every summer, about 60 boys aged 14 to 17 come here from places nearby like mainland Massachusetts, remote locales like California, Florida or Canada and occasionally overseas countries like France and Ireland. Some have affluent families, others do not. Some carry an intense love for golf and others have never held a club. Quite purposely, the contingent is made up of all different races, religions, cultures and personalities.
“There are a lot of reasons why I’m proud of this program, but the fact that such a diverse set of kids come together and build these great friendships, learn to live together, create lifelong bonds … that’s the thing I am most proud of,” said Dave Hinman, the camp’s director for the past nine summers.
... the grander aim of the program is not solely about caddying or scholarships. It’s a character- and integrity-building atmosphere.
For close to nine weeks, the boys caddie at the celebrated Emerson Armstrong links of Sankaty Head that played host to the U.S. Mid-Amateur two weeks ago. By the end of their experience, they know how to caddie – look no further than Peter Kiley, the 18-year-old who was on Stewart Hagestad’s bag during his recent victory. Kiley has spent the last four summers in the camp and received heaps of praise from Hagestad.
“He’s 18, but he’s much more mature than I was at 18,” Hagestad said after his victory.
Camp Sankaty is a major reason why that kind of personal and professional development can happen.
Each camper is responsible to pay $5 per day as part of the cost of his room and board. The Sankaty Head Foundation, a private foundation set up in the early 1960s to support and establish policy for the camp, subsidizes the rest through donations, largely from members of the course. There is a board that Welch, who caddied himself as a youngster for 10 years, was once a part of as he ardently supported the program.
“As a caddie, I saw firsthand the variety of human-nature responses to different unprotected situations and I witnessed behaviors I liked and those I didn’t find attractive at all, from silly emotional outbursts over bad shots to the generosity of spirit, or the lack thereof, in the tipping process,” Welch told Nantucket Today prior to his death. “I learned a lot that served me well later in life both on and off the golf course, and I want to support other young men having the same learning experience.”
This experience revolves around the six days each week that campers caddie, typically with two bags at a time and often in the unpredictable, windy Nantucket weather. They walk away from camp with enough money to start a savings account, many discovering money management for the first time. They also have the opportunity to earn academic scholarships awarded by the Foundation – more than $350,000 is given per year – and during the last five years, there have been 21 Camp Sankaty kids who earned an Evans Scholarship, the famous program that awards college scholarships covering full tuition and housing to high-achieving caddies with limited financial means.
However, the grander aim of the program is not solely about caddying or scholarships. It’s a character- and integrity-building atmosphere. It’s the start of real friendships. News of a camper being the best man at another camper’s wedding, more than a decade removed from their teenage days, is not uncommon.
Ben Daniels, an Evans Scholar at the University of Washington, has traveled across the length of the country from his home in Canby, Oregon, every summer since 2016 to be a part of Camp Sankaty. His first four summers were as a camper, but he has since graduated to become a staff member.
Campers are eligible to return each summer, provided they are still in good standing, through their first year of college. A select few standouts are invited back to serve in the role Daniels now has.
“It’s pretty nerve-racking when you first get there, but after four or five days you completely forget about those nerves and you already feel like you are at home,” Daniels said. “It’s the best environment you could imagine.”
What is the critical ingredient to making this happen? Similar to how bonds are burnished in the military, Camp Sankaty is a structured, tight-knit fraternity. They wake up at 7 a.m. each day, followed closely by an inspection of each camper’s living quarters. Each morning brings a flag-raising ceremony and a “work party” where each camper has a set of chores that must be completed. They are accountable for everything on property, whether that is mowing the grass or taking out the garbage. As the chores are being done, certain campers are called to the caddie bench based on member requests and overall demand.
Their caddying responsibilities extend throughout most of the day, but it’s far from the only activity offered. There are team and individual sports contests, SAT and ACT tutoring, counseling, a public speaking course, a writing class, a book that is read and discussed throughout the summer, barbecue parties, inspirational speakers and more. One of those speakers has been New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, a Sankaty Head member. There is often transportation to and from the beach in the afternoon where kids are fond of surfing in the Atlantic Ocean.
"I’ll never have a family like it. I’ll never have brothers like it. What we go through, the experiences we share, the bonds we have … they last a lifetime."
Ben Daniels, Evans Scholar
There are many high school golf coaches around the country who have education backgrounds, but they only get to interact with their kids for a few hours per week. Hinman, an athletics director, math teacher and basketball coach at St. Sebastian’s School in Needham, Massachusetts, revels in the chance to fundamentally affect the lives of young men through more than one avenue.
“Our mission is to prepare these kids to be prepared to go to college and be successful beyond,” Hinman said.
Caddie camps like this one used to exist in many places during the mid-20th century, but the advent of golf carts and the diminishing role of caddies made similar programs obsolete.
Sankaty Head doesn’t technically need the program – which dates back to 1930 when Donald Smith, a Worcester (Mass.) YMCA physical director led the camp in its first 30 years before the foundation was established and earnest development began – but club members have proudly been supportive because they want it. In some ways, Sankaty Head is defined by the generosity of the members and the experiences campers get to have because of it.
The premise is simple. This is an opportunity for kids in the difficult period of adolescence to learn vital lessons in leadership, honesty and the value of self-reliance. Many reading this first understood the concept of work ethic through caddying, which undoubtedly teaches kids how to interact with adults and how to take responsibility for their actions. Sankaty Head members become close with the caddies, even helping them with interview skills and connecting them for job opportunities long after their time in the camp.
Given such a crash course in life skills, campers often express confidence that they can live on their own and clear the many hurdles that come with going to college for the first time.
How campers talk about this can’t be faked. When Daniels is asked to explain what the camp has meant to his life, he is at a loss for words before finally finding an apt description.
“It’s one of a kind,” Daniels said. “I’ll never have a family like it. I’ll never have brothers like it. What we go through, the experiences we share, the bonds we have … they last a lifetime. It does sound pretty cliché, but it’s the real deal. It’s an unbelievable experience.”
It’s a shame there is only one caddie camp remaining in the U.S., but the one that is still standing is one of the most influential programs golf has to offer.
Like being a caddie, you can only fully appreciate it once you’ve experienced it.
Top: The camp compound at Sankaty Head fits the gray shingle style familiar to Nantucket.
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